NSA’s Domestic Surveillance to Get Extra Scrutiny: Leahy

Clapper, seen here at an April hearing. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold another hearing to investigate domestic surveillance, Chairman Patrick J. Leahy announced Friday after a leaked audit revealed that the National Security Agency violated privacy rules protecting American citizens’ private communications nearly 2,800 times in a one-year period.

“The American people rely on the intelligence community to provide forthright and complete information so that Congress and the courts can properly conduct oversight,” the Vermont Democrat said in a statement. “I remain concerned that we are still not getting straightforward answers from the NSA.”

Leahy added: “I … will continue to demand honest and forthright answers from the intelligence community. Using advanced surveillance technologies in secret demands close oversight and appropriate checks and balances, and the American people deserve no less than that.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over the FISA Amendments Act reauthorization and also the Patriot Act. In his statement, Leahy highlighted an amendment he offered last year to the FISA bill that would have mandated an inspector general audit and a shorter expiration date.

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Niels Lesniewski has covered the Senate for CQ Roll Call since January 2010, and more recently as a staff writer and resident procedure guru for Roll Call. Niels holds degrees in both government and theater but sometimes can't tell the difference between the two. @nielslesniewski